People raise their hands after a successful landing of the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, at a public event in Sagamihara, south of Tokyo, Japan, on January 20, 2024.
Kim Kyung-hoon | Reuters
Japan reclaimed its status as a national space power on Friday, when its SLIM spacecraft successfully landed on the lunar surface.
The country's SLIM lander launched in September and touched down on the lunar surface around 10:20 a.m. ET, according to telemetry readings from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA.
JAXA President Hiroshi Yamakawa confirmed that the soft landing was successful and that the spacecraft was able to send signals after its descent. However, the capabilities of the solar panels appeared to be affected during landing, leaving the spacecraft dependent on battery power.
“I think this was a big step forward,” said Hitoshi Kuninaka, CEO of JAXA.
The feat makes Japan the fifth country to land on the Moon, after Russia (later the Soviet Union), the United States, China and India. Last year, India joined the list of moon landings with its Chandrayaan-3 mission.
Japan's SLIM, which stands for Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, is a cargo research mission. It carries a variety of scientific payloads, including an analysis chamber and a pair of lunar rovers.
An artist's rendering of the SLIM lunar lander on the surface of the moon.
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
Both governments and private companies have made more than 50 attempts to land on the Moon with mixed success since the first attempts in the early 1960s, a record that has remained shaky even in the modern era.
Last year, Japanese company ispace made its first attempt to land on the moon, but the spacecraft crashed in the final moments. Earlier this month, American company Astrobotic launched its first lunar mission, but encountered problems shortly after launch. The flight was interrupted and a lunar landing attempt failed.
More attempts are on the way: US companies Intuitive Machines and Firefly are preparing to fly lunar landing modules this year, while China plans to launch another lunar landing module in May.
The SLIM lunar lander before launch.
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
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